Debrecen 0 Liverpool 1

The worst thing about following Liverpool this season has been the shite talked about us on TV. Tonight was more of the same. First we had to hear the man with real expertise on how to manage Liverpool Football Club, Graeme Souness, talking about how it is a disgrace that Liverpool were in the situation they faced going into their game against Debrecen. Ignoring the fact that Souness was the worst Liverpool manager in the last 50 years, the fool’s view is consistent with those I hear from the ill-informed and downright morons (e.g. Paul Merson) all the time. It’s as though people expect the name of Liverpool Football Club to win games on its own.

Fact: Football Clubs do not win matches; players do. The problems Liverpool have had this season have been (a) an inability to field it’s best players at the same time on a regular basis, and (b) a lack of strength in depth brought about by two sets of owners lacking the financial clout to make our club competitive.

We had to hear the moronic SKY commentator telling us that lowly Debrecen can only spend £1.5m per season on players. Hang on! What did Liverpool spend this summer? We bought Johnson for £17m of which £11m was already owed for the Crouch transfer and Pennant loan; Aquilani for £20m and Kyrgiakos for £1.5m. We recouped £30m for Alonso, £3.5m for Arbeloa, £3m for Leto and £0.5m for Anderson and Hamill on top of the unspent £16.4m we got for Keane and Hobbs in January. That’s £27.5m spent and £53.4m recouped and a net spend of -£25.9m. What would we give to be able to spend £1.5m like our rich Hungarian opponents!

Tonight I’ve had to listen to SKY’s dickhead commentator (sorry, I’m not sure which one it was) and Gary McAllister (who should know a damned-sight better!) questioning whether Liverpool really need both Mascherano and Lucas in the team. Of course they fucking don’t but who are the players who should be playing instead? Alonso? Oh yes, he’s fucked off to Madrid for a 300% profit. Gerrard? In case, you haven’t noticed, Torres is injured and we have a kid up front (a very effective kid, I might add) and no one else who can play a forward role effectively so our versatile Captain Fantastic is needed elsewhere. Aquilani? Nearing fitness after a long lay-off; unproven in the Liverpool team and therefore a gamble in a game of this importance, and it’s questionable how fit he actually is. Anyone else? No.

Rafa has come in for some stick in the past – at times deservedly – for rotating players, but this season his selections have largely been restricted to picking whoever was fit. As it turned out, he could have gambled on starting Torres, Benayoun and Aquilani but with Fiorentina winning, we would still be out.

In the end, you have to say Rafa got it right. At least we have a rare clean sheet and a rare win to take into next weekend’s Merseyside derby.

To hear SKY’s commentator saying we can’t claim hard luck in this group is a fucking joke too far. Hard luck? Is it not hard luck to have a wafer thin squad decimated by injury? Having to play in Fiorentina with a midfield pairing of Aurelio (just back from injury) and Lucas? How about losing a late goal at home to Lyon when we at least deserved a draw or losing another late goal away to Lyon when we thoroughly deserved a win? And how about the simultaneous dips in form of some of the few players who have avoided injury such as Kuyt, Skrtel and even Carragher?

Last season we finished strongly with a fairly settled side consisting of Reina, Arbeloa, Carra, Skrtel or Agger, Aurelio or Insua, two from Mascherano, Alonso or Lucas, Kuyt, Riera, Gerrard or Benayoun and Torres. During this God-awful run of disappointing results the only players from those listed who have been consistently available for selection were Reina, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas and Kuyt. Everyone else has missed games through injuries, suspensions or delays in returning from internationals.

Ngog is proving to be a decent player but replacing Torres with Ngog is not the same as being able to replace Drogba with Anelka or Kalou. It is not the same as being able to replace Adebayor or Bellamy with Tevez or Santa Cruz or Robinho. It is not the same as being able to replace Defoe with Crouch or Pavlychenko. It is not the same as being able to replace Rooney or Berbatov with Michael Shithead or their youngster Danny Welbeck. We simply don't have the strength in depth that rival clubs have.

I’ve heard a few criticisms from Liverpool fans of late with some suggesting that Kuyt should be able to stand in for Torres. Kuyt can do a job both up front and on the right but he is neither a world class striker or winger. He was a £9m signing and good value for that fee. He cost less than a third of what Man Ure paid for Berbatov or City paid for Robinho and less than half what Chelsea paid for Drogba or what City paid for Tevez or Adebayor. There are bargains to be had in football but more often than not, you get what you pay for. Kuyt has been a good player for Liverpool despite his latest lapse in form but he will never lead a title charge and you can't expect him to replace Torres and for the team to be as effective.

I’ve heard people saying Rafa should have signed Michael Shithead. After what that Manc bastard did, I wouldn’t have him within spitting distance of our football club but, yes, I concede his is a better player than Voronin. However, who is to say Rafa was even in a position to offer the twat a pay-as-you-play contract? Even if we could afford his wages, would Shithead have accepted a place on the bench?

Look at City this summer and you can see why Tevez, Santa-Cruz and Adebayor might each have believed they had the chance of nailing down the position of first choice striker. At Liverpool, if Gerrard and Torres are fit, no one else has a sniff. Simple as that. You would hope in the future, potential signings would look at their recent appearance records and think it worth joining our club but in this summer, Shithead would have thought he had a better chance of ousting the lumbering Berbatov to partner Rooney than shifting either Torres or Gerrard. As it happens, he hasn’t even shifted Berbatov yet! For all his 98th-minute winners, Shithead hasn’t exactly set the Premiership alight just yet.

Let’s view this season for what it is. It is a season of transition in which we are giving some young players some valuable experience in the great white hope that they develop into cheap world class players capable of delivering success against the odds to our miserly football club. Lucas, Insua and Ngog would never have been afforded a run of games at Man Ure or Chelsea. Let’s hope they can develop, just as some of Arsenal’s kids have, despite the stick they’ve received from impatient supporters, and let’s hope for one perfect season where Gerrard, Torres, Johnson, Reina and Agger all stay fit and in form... One shot at the title before the spending clubs pass us by.